VERSATILE APPLICATION CONFIGURATION FOR DEPLOYABLE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20140052840A1
• Filed: 10/28/2013
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shukla, Dharma
• Granted Patent: US 9,332,063 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Within a computing environment, an application may run in a variety of contexts, e.g., as a natively executable application, as a client-side interpretable application embedded in a web browser, or as a server-side application that communicates with the user through a web interface presented on a device. The application may also access resources of the computing environment stored on multiple devices. The configuration of the application to operate equivalently in these diverse environments may be facilitated by representing the application within an object hierarchy representing the computing environment. The application may be configured to operate on the objects of the object hierarchy regardless of the location of the stored objects, to execute on any device, and to execute upon a standard set of application programming interfaces. The configuration of the application in this manner promotes the versatility of the application in operating equivalently in different programming contexts.

Claims

1. A method of configuring an application to operate within a computing environment, where the computing environment is to be presented on at least two devices, the method comprising:

inserting into the object hierarchy at least two application versions of the application; and

for respective devices;

identifying a selected portion of the object hierarchy including a first application version of the application that is suitable for the device and excluding a second application version of the application that is not suitable for the device; and

synchronizing the selected portion of the object hierarchy with the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application versions of the application comprise:

a local version that is configured to operate on the device as a native device application;

a web application client that is configured to operate on the device and to communicate with a second device comprising a web application server; and

a web application server that is configured to operate on the device and to communicate with a second device comprising a web application client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a trusted application version that is suitable for a trusted device, and

an untrusted application version that is suitable for an untrusted device; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

performing a trust determination of the device as one of a trusted device and an untrusted device; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including an application version of the application according to the trust determination of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a full-featured application version that is suitable for resource-rich devices, and

a reduced-feature application version that is suitable for limited-resource devices; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

performing a resource determination of the device as one of a resource-rich device and a limited-resource device; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including an application version of the application according to the resource determination of the device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a local access application version utilizing a local access model, wherein the objects of the object hierarchy are accessed by the application while locally stored on the device, and

a remote access application version utilizing a remote access model, wherein the objects of the object hierarchy are accessed by the application remotely over a communications network; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

performing an access model determination of the application as accessing the objects of the object hierarchy via one of the local access model and the remote access model; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including an application version of the application according to the access model determination of the device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the object hierarchy is authoritatively stored by a computing environment host;

the remote access model involves accessing the objects of the object hierarchy stored on the computing environment host; and

configuring the application to access the objects of the object hierarchy further comprises;

configuring the application to communicate with the computing environment host to access the objects of the object hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the computing environment host provides a RESTful interface to the object hierarchy; and

the method further comprises;

configuring the application to apply respective actions to the objects of the object hierarchy by issuing a command to the RESTful interface of the computing environment host.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

configuring the application to access the objects of the object hierarchy while obscuring the access model determination of the objects of the object hierarchy from the application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a first application binary that is compatible with a first device architecture and that is not compatible with a second device architecture, and

a second application binary that is compatible with the second device architecture and not the first device architecture; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

identifying a selected device architecture of the device;

identifying a selected application binary of the device that is compatible with the selected device architecture of the device; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including the selected application binary of the application and excluding an unselected application binary of the application that is not compatible with the selected device architecture of the device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

respective application versions of the application comprise a source document of the application; and

synchronizing the selected portion of the object hierarchy with the device further comprises;

transmitting the source document of the first application version of the application to be compiled by the device to generate the application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

respective application versions of the application comprise a source document of the application; and

synchronizing the selected portion of the object hierarchy with the device further comprises;

selecting the source document for the first application version;

compiling the source document for the first application version to generate an application binary that is suitable for the device; and

transmitting the first application version to the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

respective objects further comprise an object hierarchy address identifying a location of the object within the object hierarchy; and

the method further comprises;

configuring the application to access the respective objects according to the object hierarchy address of the object within the object hierarchy.

13. A method of configuring a client device to present a computing environment represented by an object hierarchy hosted by a computing environment host and comprising objects respectfully associated with at least two application versions of an application that is executable within the computing environment, the method comprising:

synchronizing the object hierarchy stored on the client device with a portion of the object hierarchy hosted on the computing environment host, wherein;

the portion includes a first object stored in the object hierarchy, where the first object represents a first application version of the application that is suitable for the device, and

the portion excludes a second object stored in the object hierarchy, where the second object represents a second application version of the application that is not suitable for the device; and

executing the application within the computing environment represented by the portion of the object hierarchy stored on the client device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

respective application versions of the application comprise a source document of the application; and

the method further comprises, upon receiving the first object comprising a source document for the first application version;

compiling the source document to generate an application binary of the application; and

executing the application binary.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the computing environment host provides a RESTful interface to the object hierarchy; and

the method further comprises;

upon receiving from the application a request to apply an action to an object of the object hierarchy, issue a command to the RESTful interface of the computing environment host to apply the action to the object of the object hierarchy.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a full-featured application version that is suitable for resource-rich devices, and

a reduced-feature application version that is suitable for limited-resource devices; and

synchronizing the object hierarchy stored on the client device with the portion of the object hierarchy hosted on the computing environment host further comprises;

evaluating a resource set of the client device to perform a resource determination of the device as one of a resource-rich device and a limited-resource device; and

synchronizing with the computing environment host the portion of the object hierarchy comprising the application version of the object according to the resource determination of the device.

17. A nonvolatile computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed on a processor of a computing environment host, deploy an application executable within a computing environment to at least two devices, by:

inserting into the object hierarchy at least two application versions of the application; and

for respective devices;

identifying a selected portion of the object hierarchy including a first application version of the application that is suitable for the device and excluding a second application version of the application that is not suitable for the device; and

synchronizing the selected portion of the object hierarchy with the device.

18. The nonvolatile computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a full-featured application version that is suitable for resource-rich devices, and

a reduced-feature application version that is suitable for limited-resource devices; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

performing a resource determination of the device as one of a resource-rich device and a limited-resource device; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including an application version of the application according to the resource determination of the device.

19. The nonvolatile computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein:

the application versions of the application comprise;

a local access application version utilizing a local access model, wherein the objects of the object hierarchy are accessed by the application while locally stored on the device, and

a remote access application version utilizing a remote access model, wherein the objects of the object hierarchy are accessed by the application from the computing environment host remotely over a communications network; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy further comprises;

performing an access model determination of the application as accessing the objects of the object hierarchy via one of the local access model and the remote access model; and

identifying the selected portion of the object hierarchy including an application version of the application according to the access model determination of the device.

20. The nonvolatile computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein:

the computing environment host provides a RESTful interface to the object hierarchy; and

the instructions further cause the computing environment host to configure the application to apply respective actions to the objects of the object hierarchy by issuing a command to the RESTful interface of the computing environment host.